Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-5xszh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T01:49:44.130Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Why Women Avoid the Radical Right: Internalized Norms and Party Reputations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 October 2016

Abstract

Radical Right Parties (RRPs) consistently attract more male than female voters. Puzzlingly, there is no equally consistent gender difference in policy preferences on the main issues of these parties – immigration and minority integration policies. Indeed, in some countries, for instance the UK, women have as restrictive immigration policy preferences as men, but are still less likely to vote for RRPs. This article proposes a novel answer to this gender gap puzzle that emphasizes the normative conflicts about prejudice and discrimination that surround RRPs across Europe. It uses representative survey data to show, for the first time, that women are more likely than men to be motivated to control prejudice, and that this difference in motivations has political consequences. More specifically, the study demonstrates that the higher prevalence of internal motivation to control prejudice among women accounts for the gender gap in voting for RRPs that become trapped in conflicts over discrimination and prejudice. Voting patterns for RPPs that have been able to defuse normative concerns about prejudice, such as the Progress Party currently in government in Norway, are different.

Type
Articles
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

Department of Political Science, University of Amsterdam (email: e.harteveld@uva.nl); Department of Comparative Politics, University of Bergen (email: elisabeth.ivarsflaten@uib.no). The data files are available at http://www.nsd.uib.no/nsddata/serier/norsk_medborgerpanel_eng.html (Norway), http://lore.gu.se/surveys/citizen (Sweden) and http://hdl.handle.net/1902.1/20295 (UK). The syntax and data replication sets are available at http://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataverse/BJPolS, and online appendices are available at http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.1017/S0007123415000745.

References

Art, David. 2011. Inside the Radical Right: The Development of Anti-Immigrant Parties in Western Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bargh, John A., Gollwitzer, Peter M., and Oettingen, Gabriele. 2010. Motivation. In Handbook of Social Psychology, edited by Susan T. Fiske, Daniel Gilbert and Gardner Lindzey, 268316. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.Google Scholar
Blinder, Scott, Ford, Robert, and Ivarsflaten, Elisabeth. 2013. The Better Angels of Our Nature: How the Antiprejudice Norm Affects Policy and Party Preferences in Great Britain and Germany. American Journal of Political Science 57:841857.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bornschier, Simon. 2009. Cleavage Politics in Old and New Democracies. Living Reviews in Democracy 1:113.Google Scholar
Burns, Nancy, and Schlozman, Kay Lehman. 2001. The Private Roots of Public Action. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chaiken, Shelly, and Trope, Yaacov. 1999. Dual-Process Theories in Social Psychology. New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Coenders, Marcel, Gijsberts, Mérove, and Scheepers, Peer. 2004. Resistance to the Presence of Immigrants and Refugees in 22 Countries. In Nationalism and Exclusion of Migrants: Cross-National Comparisons, edited by Mérove Gijsberts, Louk Hagendoorn and Peer Scheepers, 97120. Aldershot: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Coffé, Hilde. 2012. Gender, Class, and Radical Right Voting. In Class Politics and the Radical Right, edited by Jens Rydgren, 138155. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Cole, Alexandra. 2005. Old Right or New Right? The Ideological Positioning of Parties of the Far Right. European Journal of Political Research 44:203230.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cutts, David, Ford, Robert, and Goodwin, Matthew J. 2009. Anti-Immigrant, Politically Disaffected or Still Racist After All? European Journal of Political Research 50:418440.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Devine, Patricia G. 1989. Stereotypes and Prejudice: Their Automatic and Controlled Components. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 56:518.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunton, Bridget C., and Fazio, Russell H.. 1997. An Individual Difference Measure of Motivation to Control Prejudiced Reactions. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 23:316326.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gallego, Aina. 2007. Unequal Political Participation in Europe. International Journal of Sociology 37:1025.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gidengil, Elisabeth. 1995. Economic Man – Social Woman? The Case of the Gender Gap in Support for the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement. Comparative Political Studies 28:384408.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilligan, Carol. 1982. In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women’s Development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Givens, Terri E. 2004. The Radical Right Gender Gap. Comparative Political Studies 37:3054.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Givens, Terry E. 2005. Voting Radical Right in Western Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodwin, Matthew. 2013. Forever a False Dawn? Explaining the Electoral Collapse of the British National Party (BNP). Parliamentary Affairs 67 (4):120.Google Scholar
Hainsworth, Paul. 2008. The Extreme Right in Western Europe. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harteveld, Eelco, van der Brug, Wouter, Dahlberg, Stefan, and Kokkonen, Andrej. 2015. The Gender Gap in Populist Radical Right Voting: Examining the Demand Side in Western and Eastern Europe. Patterns of Prejudice 49 (1-2):103134.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ignazi, Piero. 2005. Legitimation and Evolution on the Italian Right Wing: Social and Ideological Repositioning of Alleanza Nazionale and the Lega Nord. South European Society and Politics 10:333349.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Immerzeel, Tim, Coffé, Hilde, and van der Lippe, Tanja. 2015. Explaining the Gender Gap in Radical Right Voting: A Cross-National Investigation in 12 Western European Countries. Comparative European Politics 13:263286.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Inglehart, Ronald, and Norris, Pippa. 2000. The Developmental Theory of the Gender Gap: Women’s and Men’s Voting Behavior in Global Perspective. International Political Science Review 21:441463.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ivarsflaten, Elisabeth. 2006a. Immigration Policy and Party Organization: Explaining the Rise of the Populist Right in Western Europe. D. Phil. Dissertation. Oxford: University of Oxford.Google Scholar
Ivarsflaten, Elisabeth. 2006b. Reputational Shields: Why Most Anti-Immigrant Parties Failed in Western Europe, 1980–2005. Working Paper. Oxford: University of Oxford.Google Scholar
Ivarsflaten, Elisabeth. 2008. What Unites Right-Wing Populists in Western Europe?: Re-Examining Grievance Mobilization Models in Seven Successful Cases. Comparative Political Studies 41:323.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ivarsflaten, Elisabeth, and Stubager, Rune. 2012. Voting for the Populist Radical Right in Western Europe: The Role of Education. In Class Politics and the Radical Right, edited by Jens Rydgren, 122137. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Ivarsflaten, Elisabeth, Blinder, Scott, and Ford, Robert. 2010. The Anti-Racism Norm in Western European Immigration Politics: Why Consider It and How to Measure It. Journal of Elections Public Opinion and Parties 20:421445.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jennings, M. Kent. 1988. Preface. In The Politics of the Gender Gap, edited by Carol M. Mueller, 713. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Kahneman, Daniel. 2011. Thinking, Fast and Slow. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Kitschelt, Herbert. 1997. The Radical Right in Western Europe: A Comparative Analysis. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Kriesi, Hanspeter, Grande, Edgar, Lachat, Romain, Dolezal, Martin, Bornschier, Simon, and Frey, Timotheos. 2006. Globalization and the Transformation of the National Political Space: Six European Countries Compared. European Journal of Political Research 45:921956.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lennon, Randy, and Eisenberg, Nancy. 1987. Gender and Age Differences in Empathy and Sympathy. In Empathy and its Development, edited by Nancy Eisenberg and Janet Strayer, 195217. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Macaskill, Ann, Maltby, John, and Day, Liza. 2002. Forgiveness of Self and Others and Emotional Empathy. The Journal of Social Psychology 142:663665.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McGann, Anthony J., and Kitschelt, Herbert. 2005. The Radical Right in the Alps: Evolution of Support for the Swiss SVP and Austrian FPO. Party Politics 11:147171.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mudde, Cas. 2007. Populist Radical Right Parties in Europe. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Norris, Pippa. 2005. Radical Right: Voters and Parties in the Electoral Market. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parker, Christopher, and Barreto, Matt A.. 2013. Change They Can’t Believe , In: The Tea Party and Reactionary Politics in America. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Plant, E. Ashny, and Devine, Patricia G.. 1998. Internal and External Motivation to Respond Without Prejudice. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 75:811832.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ratcliff, Jennifer J., Lassiter, G. Daniel, Markman, Keith D., and Snyder, Celeste J.. 2006. Gender Differences in Attitudes Toward Gay Men and Lesbians: The Role of Motivation to Respond Without Prejudice. Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin 32:13251338.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rippeyoung, Phyllis L. F. 2007. When Women Are Right: The Influence of Gender, Work and Values on European Far-Right Party Support. International Feminist Journal of Politics 9:379397.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rydgren, Jens. 2006. From Tax Populism to Ethnic Nationalism: Radical Right-Wing Populism in Sweden. New York: Berghahn Books.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rydgren, Jens. 2008. Immigration Sceptics, Xenophobes or Racists? Radical Right-Wing Voting in Six West European Countries. European Journal of Political Research 47:737765.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sidanius, Jim, Pratto, Felicia, and Bobo, Lawrence. 1994. Social Dominance Orientation and the Political Psychology of Gender: A Case of Invariance? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 6:9981011.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sniderman, Paul M. 1995. The Scar of Race. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Taggart, Paul. 1995. New Populist Parties in Western Europe. West European Politics 18:3451.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van der Brug, Wouter, and Fennema, Meindert. 2009. The Support Base of Radical Right Parties in the Enlarged European Union. Journal of European Integration 31:589608.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van der Eijk, Cees, van der Brug, Wouter, Kroh, Martin, and Franklin, Mark. 2006. Rethinking the Dependent Variable in Voting Behavior: On the Measurement and Analysis of Electoral Utilities. Electoral Studies 25 (3):424447.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Widfeldt, Anders. 2000. Scandinavia: Mixed Success for the Populist Right. Parliamentary Affairs 53 (3):486500.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Winship, Christopher, and Mare, Robert D.. 1984. Regression Models With Ordinal Variables. American Sociological Review 49:512525.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: Link

Harteveld and Ivarsflaten Dataset

Link
Supplementary material: File

Harteveld and Ivarsflaten supplementary material

Appendix

Download Harteveld and Ivarsflaten supplementary material(File)
File 25.6 KB